Web Summit Lisbon 2023

I first heard about Web Summit through a work colleague who attended the previous year. I followed the marketing emails for a while and applied for a Developer Ticket. After getting accepted, I did not know what to expect, but I knew that the best way to approach it was with an open mind. Attending this year's Web Summit in Lisbon helped me gain a broader perspective on how people are developing technology outside of GitHub and Microsoft. I have shared my collective learnings below based on the three sessions that had the most profound impact on my experience.

I'd like to send a heartfelt thanks to the Web Summit team for extending the ticket. It's been over three years since I attended a conference, and I am grateful to make my debut back with Web Summit Lisbon.

Pro tips for pitching

This session was hosted by Cristina Fonseca of Indico Capital (opens in a new tab). Each startup that presented gave me insight into how people are using AI in their capabilities, whether for developer tools, event planning, or even legal documentation.

What I found most interesting was the themes of questions that emerged when Cristina evaluated each of the pitches. Here's my AI-assisted summary of themes and great questions to ask startups, depending on the context of their pitch:

Product and Competitive Edge:

• Is the (digital) product a separate visual editor or an embedded widget?
• How do you maintain a competitive edge when these open-source models are accessible to everyone?
• What is your dependence on a third-party API to generate data or answers versus using your own proprietary technology?

Geographical Focus and Privacy:

• What is the current and future geographical focus for the short-term? How about the long-term?
• How do you ensure the privacy of students, especially minors, using the app?
• When the data is submitted, how is it stored and secured? What is your current compliance and security posture, and where can it be improved?

Business Model and Competition:

• Explain the business model: how do you make money?
• Share insights on competition in your market. If you think you don't have any competitors, who or what do you anticipate being a risk to your business in the next year?
• Based on your slides, what is the base currency of your earnings?
• Is this a subscription-based model or something else?

Sales and Go-to-Market Strategy:

• How does selling differ between public and private schools?
• Detail your go-to-market strategy and target audience.
• Is this a business-to-business company? Or a business-to-consumer? Or a mix of something else?

Who are you? How the convergence of microbes, human DNA, and AI can alter our evolution

This session was hosted by Lauren Wright, CEO of The Natural Nipple (opens in a new tab).

I initially discovered her work when she delivered her company's Web Summit 2023 Pitch (opens in a new tab).

The conversation was rich, and while I couldn't capture every point, I found Lauren's discussion on the significance of prebiotic foods, the research behind the potency of breastmilk, and details in between fascinating.

One of the notable papers Lauren mentioned was Equally Good Neurological, Growth, and Health Outcomes up to 6 Years of Age in Moderately Preterm Infants Who Received Exclusive vs. Fortified Breast Milk—A Longitudinal Cohort Study (opens in a new tab). One of the key findings that I garnered was the importance of the microbiome in early life, suggesting that shaping microbial DNA in the first two years is crucial for long-term health. The wonder of the nutrients that come from this form is that it is tailor-made for the child that no other substance or food product can offer. However, where breastfeeding just isn't possible, she promotes donor milk as the next best option for infants and toddlers.

As far as AI went, Lauren described the power of using machine learning and existing tooling to comprehensively process and combine the collective research on the microbiome for short-term research and related product development. Having AI along with a development team and a group of medical professionals can be a powerhouse in interpreting microbiome data, in addition to improving our collective understanding on the topic. One of the final points Lauren made was addressing historical shifts in formula marketing and its potential correlation with increased inflammation.

What it takes to be a technical leader

This session was moderated by Bobby Allyn of NPR hosting the following panelists: Christine Spang of Nylas, Simon Wistow of Fastly, and Emil Eifrem of Neo4j.

I appreciated that each of the panelists represented their companies' respective "stage" of a startup and shared their perspectives from that angle: from seed and early round to a slightly larger company nearing one thousand employees, to a company that's publicly traded.

Below is my paraphrased version of the questions Bobby asked along with the responses from each of the panelists.

How do you attract engineers from a bigger company like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, or Google?

• From Simon: Pitching to a FAANG senior engineer — Professional: bigger fish in a smaller pond, outsized impact; direct effects on org // be a company that people are proud to be a part of. Think broader than the technology.
• From Emil: Impact and Culture. Relationship-centric culture and combining empathy with accountability.
• From Christine: Autonomy, 130 people — the amount of control over your working day and who you’re working with is there. Make sure upfront people are aware but a unique opportunity that they can work on internet-plumbing projects. Deep distributed system problems and building the foundation for the future.

Based on your company's current stage, what is the most important thing you all are focused on achieving?

• For a growth startup, a software engineer's job transitions from solely writing code. There's a breadth and depth of competencies spanning from communicating to translating. The keys to success remain the same no matter the activity: being detail-oriented and following through on those commitments. However, there may come a point where you transition from being an individual contributor, and you're in a position where it's more impactful to grow your team and having the team aligned on building up the business. In addition, you become an interface to work with other parties in the company and get things done together, which is one of the most difficult things to do, in contrast with the "coding" that you were originally hired to do.
• For a larger organization (many hundred of employees, let's say), it comes down to the level of scope and abstraction based on the role. For example, as a technical leader, your original task was to build the product. As the product and its user base grow in size, there is a responsibility for the team to work together and for you to coordinate (or perhaps even better, orchestrate) their operation. You grow into the role of being an organizational architect to arrange and generate the most output from each unit. Your days will then be figuring out how to get your product managers working in tandem with Developer Relations, along with the Sales and Marketing teams.

On AI: to what degree should this be core or complementary to your business?

There's a belief that in this environment, you have to start with AI being the core (and perhaps the only thing) driving your business. Taking a step back, what's more critical is how it's used, why, and for whom. Think about how your current offering can be enhanced or complemented with AI is better than just having everything be AI only.

What's your advice for junior developers wanting to work at your startup?

• Open source experience is valuable
• "Eye of the tiger": does this person have a sense of enthusiasm and a drive to push themselves? Do they care about the business and are they tuned in on the downstream impacts? Do they ask interesting questions tied to customers? Do they express curiosity that shows they know will be on the high slope of learning?
• Showcase the ability to think structurally, along with the ability to have a longer-term and broader perspective of the impact of what you’re building

Closing thoughts

Attending Web Summit 2023 gave me new insights that I wouldn't have otherwise watching a stream or a recording. Meeting people in-between sessions over coffee, along with letting the ideas from session to session connect in an organic way gave me a newfound perspective on how what I work on day-to-day affects those who are advancing their fields and serving their customers that wouldn't have otherwise been touched.

I look forward to returning next year and I will be applying as a speaker. Stay tuned! 😉